Socks
by Ayume Matsumoto
Summary: Slotting in at the end of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. [Spoiler Alert]


_"_ _Can you destroy it?"_

 _Albus Dumbledore looked away from the face of his former student Newt Scamander and turned his gaze back to the beautiful vial which was hovering mere feet in front of him._

 _"_ _Maybe…maybe."_

In fact, the Great Albus Dumbledore knew exactly how to destroy the physical blood pact made between himself and his former - acquaintance. But as he sat alone in his gradually darkening office, studying the vial on the desk in front of him, fingertips positioned together in thought Albus wasn't sure he wanted to destroy the object which had meant so much to him.

With a small sigh Albus scooped up the vial and stood up. The sun was now fully setting outside the castle windows and faintly in the distance the voice of Professor McGonagall could be heard ordering students to make their way back inside the castle. Making his way to the back of his office, Albus pulled back the heavy curtain which was draped over his mirror.

 _"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"_

 _"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woollen socks."_

A pained looking Albus stared back from the mirror. His hand clenched around the vial making a fist. A shadow appeared behind the Albus in the mirror, gradually becoming clearer. Beautiful golden locks of hair bounced around a perfectly chiselled face, the figure appeared to have a certain glow about him. He was around the same height as Albus as he reached around the Albus in the mirror and drew him into an embrace from behind. The Albus in the mirror blushed and smiled. The real Albus did not. He leaned closer to the mirror, stretching out his fingers and affectionately but heavy hearted traced the outline of Gellert Grindelwald's face. There was a mischievous twinkle in the blonde haired man's eyes as his leaned into the Albus in the mirror and planted a kiss on his cheek before turning back to look out of the mirror. A sorrowful tear rolled down the cheek of Albus Dumbledore and landed on his closed hand, the vial clenched inside sent pulsations through his skin – as if it had a heartbeat of its own.

"Reminiscing, are we?" A strong, firm voice forced Albus to spin around, withdrawing his wand with his free hand from the pocket of his jacket.

"That, you can put away. You won't use it against me." The mischievous blonde haired man from the mirror sat silhouetted against the setting sun in the archway of the castle window. He sat casually, one booted leg propped up in the archway twirling his own wand between his fingers and nonchalantly gazing out of the window to the lake and ground below. He watched as a strict-looking Professor marched the last remaining students into the castle entrance below before bringing his fiery eyes in line with Albus' own piercing ones.

Gellert Grindelwald continued to watch Albus from the window ledge until it became apparent to him that Albus, who stood dumbfounded and shocked next to the mirror not daring to take his eyes off Gellert, was not going to make the first move.

"Well my dear Albus, I must say, you really ought to improve your security around here." Jumping down from the window with little effort Gellert sauntered across the room towards Albus, his boots making sharp taps on the stone floor with each stride he took. Albus woke up from his momentary shock and took a step backwards; he could feel the cold glass of the mirror firmly against his back. His wand was drawn, but appeared to be pointing up to the ceiling, nowhere near the direction of Gellert.

Pocketing his own wand confidently, Gellert slid his elegant fingers along the edge of Albus' desk as he swanned past it. A framed photo caught his glance at the edge of the desk. He paused briefly and contemplated it.

 _"_ _After all this time?"_

 _"_ _Always."_

The signature mischievous smile crossed over the face of Gellert. Albus tried to clear his mind. He was pretty sure Gellert was not and had never been a Legilimens – yet somehow he had always had the feeling that he was being read like an open book. On the other hand, no matter how much Albus honed his own Legilimens skills he had never been able to read the mind of Gellert Grindelwald.

Clearing his voice, Albus straightened his back and brought his piercing blue eyes in contact with Gellert's.

He took a moment, unsure of how to address his former….

 _Love_

For a fleeting moment Gellert appeared to have opened his mind to Albus, but the moment was gone in a flash, leaving Gellert still standing holding his playful smile.

"Gellert," Even as he said it, the name sounded distant to him. "Why are you here?"

"Ah. He speaks." Gellert added an air of drama to his words, brushing aside air with a hand. Letting his other hand slide off the desk he took several more strides towards Albus.

"It's been a while Albus. I felt we needed a catch up." Gellert's fiery eyes were now directly in front of Albus. With their noses almost touching Gellert reached up to Albus' wanded hand and grasped it, pinning him against the mirror.

"I told you didn't I; you won't be needing this." Whispering softly into his ear, Gellert brought down Albus' arm until his wand was loosely pointing at the stone floor. Albus barely resisted. Possibly, he didn't want to resist. There was still something very alluring about Gellert, and, in his crazy mind he felt some trust towards the man.

"Gell -" Albus begun hotly but was interrupted by an elegant finger placed on his lips. He waited for the other man to speak, but Gellert appeared to be distracted by the mirror in front of him. Craning his neck around, Albus attempted to get a view of the mirror but Gellert's full weight was against him, pinning him in place.

Taking his finger off Albus' warm lips, Gellert placed the tip of it against the cold mirror.

"I must get myself one of these." He murmured. Albus could feel the warm breath of each word against his ear, making the hairs at the back of his neck stand up.

 _It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts..._

Fingertip now away from the mirror, Gellert ran his hand down the length of Albus' arm and entwined his fingers in Albus' clasped fist. Gently he prised open the fist against little resistance to reveal the vial. Gellert Grindelwald grinned. Pulling away from Albus he raised the vial between his fingers, leaving Albus' open hand now empty. Letting go of Albus' wand hand too, Gellert proceeded to pull out his own wand from the pocket of his jacket.

"So this is what you came for?!" Albus snapped to his senses, feeling once more betrayed he raised his wand in Gellert's direction.

Gellert held up the vial to the last remaining rays of sunlight and looked at it victoriously.

"I didn't realise it meant that much to you." He spoke with a lofty voice before turning back to face the wand now being pointed at him. "I told you, that won't be necessary." And with that Gellert pointed his own wand at the vial;

"Wingardium Leviosa."

The vial left Gellert's fingers and floated softly over to Albus. A thin silver chain attached to it gently looped its way around Albus' neck. The vial dropped and rested against his chest. Albus looked down at it perplexed.

"We made a promise to each other. You can keep that, or you can try and destroy it." Gellert pointed his finger in the direction of Albus' chest. "I always keep my promises." He turned, "Well, mostly." And pocketing his wand once more took some graceful strides towards the window he appeared to have arrived through – the only light flooding through it now was moonlight. Casually he climbed onto the ledge.

Albus headed towards him, his footsteps light on the stone, wand still out.

"Gell, wait." Gellert turned his head, this time his smile was more affectionate.

"What did you see in the mirror?"

"Me?" There was a brief pause as Gellert considered. "I saw myself holding a pair of socks."

Albus reached the window ledge just in time to catch a glimpse of the twinkle in Gellert's eye as he disappeared into the clear night's sky. Somewhere in the forest a creature howled at the moon. Albus let his wand arm drop and placed his other hand over the vial which felt strangely warm against his chest.

 _What a world we could make, for all of humanity._

 _We who live for freedom, for truth – and for love._


End file.
